Material property characterization for additively manufactured structures has mimicked wrought material characterization through the utilization of standard test artifacts such as the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) tensile bars. To determine material properties from this process, the test artifacts are routinely destructively tested. In the characterization of additively manufactured materials, traditional test artifacts developed for the characterization of homogeneous wrought materials and not for additively manufactured materials have been heavily utilized. These test artifacts, maintained by agencies such as ASTM or the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), are destructively tested to extract mechanical properties such as Young's modulus or yield strength. These traditional test artifacts work well for wrought material, as it has not only been extensively characterized and is well understood, but it is also homogeneous through an ingot. Additively manufactured materials however, behave differently from conventional wrought alloys and thus require different test artifacts and techniques for characterization.
Accordingly, there is a need for a test artifact for use in non-destructively characterizing mechanical properties and specifically address functional mechanical properties driven from design expectations for material performance. There is also a need for test artifacts to permit characterization of multiple properties and be an endorsement that a build was “acceptable”. Embodiments of the present invention meet the needs stated above. The test artifact of the present invention is designed for testing to determine mechanical properties using non-destructive evaluation techniques for the opportunity to use one test artifact for multiple test setups. This is important for additive material characterization for multiple reasons.
The test artifact of the present invention can characterize multiple mechanical and material properties, such as, for example, Young's modulus or shear modulus, harmonic response, surface roughness, density, hardness testing, flex to failure (ultimate/yield strength), and cycle flexure to evaluate fatigue properties. Additionally, the test artifact and corresponding characterizations can significantly reduce the uncertainty associated with measurements. The test artifact can be an endorsement that a build process and any post processing procedures were acceptable, possibly eliminating the need for current extensive post build part evaluation.